


Instant Destiny

by Hurricos



Series: Emotional Machine [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor is baby, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Gradual Romance, Hank is the best wingman, Humour, I’m laughing at my own tag lsksjk, Protective Connor, Reader is a detective, Slow Burn, confused Connor, if that wasn’t already established?, robo banter, slight tw as suggestion of harrassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:01:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23759536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hurricos/pseuds/Hurricos
Summary: Part 2 in the ‘Emotional Machine’ series.An eventful and frightening night shift causes a sudden imbalance in Connor, even more so than before. His systems are dropping instabilities here, there and everywhere - and he’s finally about to confront as to why this is happening.(I am so sucky at summary’s so I cant blame you if this doesn’t draw you in lmao)
Relationships: Connor (Detroit: Become Human) & Reader, Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Reader, Hank Anderson & Connor
Series: Emotional Machine [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709356
Comments: 6
Kudos: 83





	Instant Destiny

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 here we go! Thank you to all the Kudos on the first instalment, I am so so grateful. Thank you all immensely x
> 
> (I apologise - I hope there are minimal errors in this, I try to proofread as thoroughly as possible but errors still manage to slip through the net sometimes)

You were starving. One waste of time ‘case’ later (an old woman had apparently called saying she thought her android was deviant – and this clearly wasn’t the case at all), and you found yourself practically ready to eat the steering wheel of your car.

This was your sixth on call night shift with Connor, and now the pair of you were quite comfortable with one another. It had just taken you more time to adapt – as you were so used to Hank’s dry wit and Connor was obviously a completely different colleague to work with.

“I’ve just had another call come in, Detective (name).” Connor announced as you travelled down the road at the designated speed.

“Log us onto the call but put it to hold,” you announced, ravenous and in danger of becoming ‘hangry’. “I need some food before I commit a crime myself.”

“That would not be a wise idea.” Connor replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. “As it would just be another report for you to write.”

You glanced across at him with a grin, despite your starving state. You were so glad Connor was getting more of an insight into the workings of banter and sarcasm. Sure, he wasn’t exactly the expert but if he was stuck with you and Hank for a while – he’d soon be the master.

Swerving steadily through the drive through and ordering your usual popcorn chicken and fries – it then seemed wise to perhaps stop a second and eat something before you both sped off to the next case.

“Fry?” You offered Connor, in autopilot mode. It was because you were so bloody used to Hank being with you – claiming he wasn’t hungry and then ending up eating half of your meal.

“I don’t eat, Detective.” Connor responded, his tone was neutral but you could almost imagine him mentally thinking ‘how many times do I have to tell this girl!?’. Not that he would, you thought – it was still a funny thing to imagine though.

“Sorry, I keep forgetting you don’t need food.” A gentle sigh followed your words, as you lifted the boxes of food from the crinkly paper bag.

You popped the first tasty, salty chip into your mouth with a light moan of sheer delight and satisfaction. It was everything you needed in that moment. Now you had started, you couldn’t stop – constantly picking more and more from the carton.

“I don’t understand how you don’t eat.” You said between mouthfuls, trying to be dignified and make sure you’d swallowed the food before talking. “I would literally cry if I didn’t need to eat.” You exasperated, alternating to a chicken bite as you also couldn’t help but moan at its flavour.

Connor watched you unabashedly stuffing your face, secretly scanning the calorie count, sugar and salt content and fats of the food you couldn’t help but wolf down.

It wasn’t long before you had nearly devoured what you’d ordered.

“That meal is over half your daily guideline calorie intake.” Connor announced, his factual words causing a sarcastic frown to cross your face. Scrunching up the serviette, you threw it across the centre console at him playfully.

“Stop ruining it for me, Connor.” You remarked playfully, “always being the spoilt sport.”

He ignored your teasing, and without you having to ask or say anything, he grabbed the paper bag the food came in and packed all the used cardboard containers into it as you finished your meal. The gesture made you pout your lips at him in a cooing fashion.

“You know you don’t have to clear up after me.” You smiled, sipping at the lemonade that remained in your cup.

“I know.” He replied, those soft brown eyes looking at you. “But I don’t mind.” He said, LED blinking white suddenly as he placed his fingers to his temple momentarily, he usually did this when calls came through.

“It’s Captain Fowler. He has escalated the earlier call and wishes to know if we will be on scene soon.”

You groaned heavily and slotted the drinks cup into the holder on your driver’s side door.

“Send him an alert saying we’re leaving now.” You responded, “he’s probably mad because he’s seen where I’m currently located on the GPS.” It was an amusing thought, imagining your superior cussing and flustering knowing you were stuffing your face this whole time.

Connor was about to open the passenger door to take your rubbish to the bin, but you quickly stopped him, your hand landing on his momentarily as you prised the bag from his grip.

“You’re not my butler, Connor.” You cracked a laugh, brushing off the slight fluttering in your stomach as your hand ghosted over that of the android’s. “I’ll get rid of this trash. I’ll be one second.” You assured him, taking the bag yourself as you stepped out into the night.

The air was utterly bitter, it was a November and darkness just seemed another part of daily life at the moment – considering it was the winter months.

You wrapped your arms around you a little tighter as you walked towards the bin just across the parking lot – your faux sheepskin coat offering warmth from the harsh cold. It was incredibly eerie, the only sound you could hear was the ambience of Detroit itself – the distant rush of cars, sirens and far away hollering of some drunken fight.

The heels of your ankle boots clicked off the tarmac, why did the bin feel so far away? Your senses were becoming acutely aware of a group out of the corner of your eye – clustered by a nearby street light – all of them clad in thick coats and beanies. A short glance at them confirmed they were all looking at you. It was often you felt threatened, but at this moment the fear hammered away in your heart like a blacksmith beaten a horseshoe into conformation.

“Hey-“ that voice was not friendly. _Shit_ – you thought, not saying anything as you threw the paper bag into the bin and then turned on your heels to head back to the car.

“You just fuckin’ ignore people when they talk to you, huh bitch?” Another male gruffed. Your steps became hastier, more desperate. But their footsteps – clumping boots and scuffing sneakers – advanced far quicker than you could have ever anticipated.

Pinned in by a circle of the three men, you felt like a helpless lamb that just wandered into the path of three very hungry foxes.

You decided to flash your police badge to see if it wavered them at all – being a detective you didn’t exactly wear a uniform. Tonight you looked the same as any other woman in your dark wash denim jeans, long sleeved grey top and tan sheepskin-looking coat.

“I am working. I hope you can appreciate I don’t have time to chat.” You tried to say, a part of you desperately hoping these men were fucking stupid.

“Didn’t know it was your job to be fucking rude-“

One of the men shoved you, and right now you were hateful of the fact your car was just around the corner from these laurel bushes. You didn’t want to scream like a damsel in distress. You wanted to be strong and kick all of these guy’s asses but something told you they would far outweigh you in this situation.

However, it seemed your long length of time absent from sight had roused Connor’s suspicions. Clicking the handle, he stepped out of the passenger side and quickly became aware of voices. Male voices.

Then he heard your own – wavering, unsteady – _fearful._

“How bout you make some time for us, _officer?_ ” One of the men chided, stepping in too close and tugging at your jacket. The motion made you feel sick, and now you knew it was time to bolt. You were about to run and make the break for it before a new appearance faulted the behaviour of the men.

Connor’s advanced software meant he had already assessed this situation in about the space of a second.

“I suggest you let my colleague go.” Connor said in a stern and low voice. “Or I may have to use force.”

His threats were met with belittling laughter, the men chuckling away with no real regard for what had been said.

“Fuckin’ RoboCop here is gonna fuck us up, huh?” The male in the blue beanie snarled, he appeared to be the ring leader despite being the smallest of the three men. If they weren’t as threatening, you would have made a joke about him acting like a chihuahua when faced with a Doberman.

The man advanced forward and pushed himself right into Connor’s face. The RK800 android towered over the little prick and simply staring at him, unmoving – as the little man made various threats.

“You’re just a fuckin’ piece of plastic? Y hear me?” He shoved at Connor’s chest – making him stumble backwards.

“Connor-!” You called out, a warmth of tears rising at the lower periphery of your eyes.

“You mean nothing. You’re worth nothing. All you’re ever going to be as a fucking toy playing policeman.”

Connor could see the blanket of red code registering quickly through his system – this was all to familiar as of recent. Software instabilities. He hadn’t had one like this before – no. His recent ones had all been around certain positive things – like when he had said something to make you laugh, or seen you singing along to one of your songs in the car.

No – this was all too different.

He had been programmed to only use force and violence in very pressing situations – and avoid conflict of possible. But every signal in his whirring mind was telling him to push past the code written into his program. Why should he stand here and let this lowlife treat him like garbage?

He didn’t need to stand for it.

It was not _fair._

Like glass shattering into a million stars before him, Connor quickly lurched forwards like a striking python – with the strength of a great bear. His hands fisted around the material of the man’s Parker coat, and he threw him viciously across the car park to where he fell in the gravel with a thud.

“Don’t just fucking stand there! Get him!” The downed male yelled as he tried to pick himself back up, his two friends approaching Connor with a hesitation that they tried so desperately to cover – unfortunately for them – this android could see past the façade.

Connor went for the nearest man to his right – dragging him in and then sending his knee into the guy’s crotch. The move instantly incapacitated the criminal, who dropped to the floor clutching at groin.

The attack seemed to have frightened the remaining man – who instead took off at lightening speed down the street.

“Get out of here.” Connor growled at the last two men who were scrabbling up from the ground. “GO!” Connor boomed, and then sudden volume caused them to dart away, not dissimilar to a couple of skittish rabbits.

Alone – you desperately tried to ground yourself from what was a very close call. The shakiness gripped you next when you realised what could have happened to you. You could have been raped, kidnapped, murdered – _anything._

Yet Connor saved you.

Adjusting his tie slightly after making sure the men were gone, Connor’s attention then turned to you. Concern was written all over his kind features.

“(Name)? Are you alright?”

Your chest caved with the sudden exhale of a breath you didn’t even realise you were holding. You had no words – not at the moment at least.

Instead, you threw your arms around his neck and buried your face into his shoulder – the fabric of his jacket brushing against your cheek as you fought so badly to contain the tears – but your attempts were futile.

Your body closed in around him, the android detective completely froze for a moment. Another cascade of error code flashed through his system – and similar warm and pleasant feelings he had grown accustomed to when being around you engulfed his being once again.

Ignore the constant confused battle in his conscious of ‘ _why is this happening?’_ – Connor let his arms envelope your figure, his cheek gently resting on the top of your head as he comforted you silently within his embrace – a bitterly wintery Detroit that stood around you both seemingly stopping to exist for just a few moments.

-

A couple of weeks had passed since that god awful incident in that car park. Initially, Fowler hadn’t expected you to come in straight away after hearing from Connor that it shook you up quite a bit. You had surprised everyone when the day after, you showed up to work as normal. Hank had suddenly turned into some pandering father, constantly asking you if you were okay.

It was not like you to want attention or pity, so you put everyone’s mind at ease with a simple statement:

_‘I’m fine. It’s not the first lot of idiots I’ve come across and they won’t be the last.’_

One of the first things you did upon being back was making sure your thanks were known to Connor. Had he not been there to save you, the incident could have been a lot worse. You thanked him gratefully in the solitude of an empty 11.30am break room, with some kind words and a chaste kiss to his cheek.

The android detective had been hoping for some closure over the weeks to this ongoing spell of software errors, however they seemed to be contradicting his hopes and doing the exact opposite.

Everything seemed to spiral out of control when he was around you, his systems would get overworked and he’d had to activate his artificial breathing to cool down all the overheated components in his system. Every time he set eyes on you, it was like he couldn’t see anything sensibly as he normally did. The feelings had been experiencing previously had all but gone to the extremes now – past the point of him trying to hide them or dismiss them.

On this particular Tuesday afternoon, Connor had been busy typing up a report – he was never behind, unlike yourself and Hank – and everything was always perfectly written and grammatically correct. Connor never usually once deterred his gaze from the screen when completing his reports – but as of late he often found himself staring across the office at your desk that ran directly opposite to Hank’s.

Connor would try and drag himself back into the report, but it became increasingly difficult when he noticed the minute little gestures you often did passively – like the way your fingers combed back strands of your glossy (colour) hair out of your face, or the way in which you chewed your bottom lip when mulling over something.

He had to break out of this stare before you noticed.

Luckily for Connor, you rose from your desk around a minute later and dashed off towards the direction of the archive room – hurried motion in your steps. All too transfixed, Connor’s like of sight followed your figure all the way until it disappeared behind the wall.

“Jesus Christ, Connor.” Hank groaned from the desk next to him. The evident sigh in Hank’s voice dragged the android out of his dream like state.

“Is there something the matter, Lieutenant?” Connor responded with a collected tone that all but contradicted his previously enamoured staring.

“I may be old but I ain’t fucking stupid, so don’t talk to me like I am.” Hank retorted in his usual crass way, leaning his forearms on his desk.

“You’ve been staring at (name) now for weeks like some kind of creepy pervert.” Hank whispered, to which Connor cocked his head – the negative connotations of the word choice Hank chose to use caused the android’s LED to whizz yellow for a moment.

“I have…” Connor mumbled, it was not a question or a statement – it was a confused acknowledgement of his actions.

“Yeah, you have.” Hank corroborated, cocking his head slightly, “do you ‘like’ (name)?”

The term ‘like’ was a general term to Connor that meant getting along with a person – enjoying their company. He didn’t think about anything above this – but only because he simply didn’t understand the ‘errors’ (or rather feelings) that plagued his system.

“Of course I like (name).” He replied, “she is pleasant. I enjoy her company.”

Connor’s direct and all but formalised tone made Hank roll his eyes – knowing the true intent of his question had all but gone about the android’s head.

“No, Connor.” Hank said, keeping his voice low. “I mean ‘like’ as in… fancy her.”

Not surprisingly, Connor’s LED whirled yellow once more. Fancy?

“Fancy her?”

Hank mumbled a ‘fucking hell’ under his breath momentarily before he pressed on.

“You feel things when you’re around her?”

Connor suddenly faulted – the word ‘feel’ made him feel almost unsteady. He was slightly paranoid that Hank might try and take this conversation in the direction of deviancy – for some reason.

“… I…” he paused again, wondering whether to go down this trail.

His lengthy silences all but gave the game away to Hank anyway.

“So you do.” Hank answered for him, his steely gaze met with Connor’s uncertain brown puppy eyes.

“I do not fully understand it myself Lieutenant.” Connor sighed, “my systems don’t seem to function properly … I feel a strange imbalance in my cognitive functions when I approach (name).”

Hank smiled, it hadn’t gone unnoticed to him that Connor could barely get a coherent sentence out recently if he had to talk to you.

“It means you like her, kid.” Hank smiles, “it ain’t anything to be scared of either.” He assured, taking out that rare parental approach that you had cherished and valued on many occasions.

“Just – tell her if you do. Wasting time gets you nowhere.” Hank explained, his eyes returning back to the screen whilst Connor mulled over all he had been told.

So that’s what all these software instabilities were – he was feeling things for you. That both terrified him and gave him immense relief all the same. He was glad he knew the root of the cause now – but was also anxious about whether this made him any less capable to do his job.

“How do I tell her?” Connor asked with a timidity to his voice, earning a considerate look from Hank.

“That’s for you to decide, kid.” Was all he said, making it apparent he was attempting to get on as his eyes retreated back to the screen.

-

The busy day finally came to a close as you left the precinct, coat draped over your arm and your handbag thrown over your shoulder. You said some brief farewells to a few passing colleagues as you made your way towards the car park, car keys jangling in your grip.

From the safety of a hidden corner, Connor watched as your figure ghosted past him. His feet felt unable to move, unable to cross the distance to approach you and say something. Another feeling consumed him – regret, as he watched you disappear across the expanse of the car park towards your car.

A longing grabbed hold of him – combined with a hefty mix of frustration. He had been thinking f about all of these feelings for the entirety of the day since his talk with Hank and now all he was doing was holding himself back from everything he so wanted to do.

Connor figured this would not be easy at all. He knew the path he was treading was dangerous, as he tried to blind himself to the fact his actions were in fact that if deviancy – yet he found himself caring less and less…

Each time he thought of your face.


End file.
